GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The past week has been a deadly one for two-wheel drivers, with two people killed and one in critical condition after three separate accidents in western Switzerland. A 50-year-old diver also died in Veytaux, near the Chateau de Chillon, close to the spot where noted musician Daniel Cho died in July 2010, shortly before he was to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Diver’s body found in Veytaux
The diver, who went diving alone Saturday evening 1 October was reported missing at 05:30 Sunday when he failed to return home. Police and Lake Geneva Gendarme rescue teams began searching for him and found his car parked at the chateau. Four divers began to comb the area, diving to 40 metres, starting at 10:30. An underwater robot also searched, at depths of 50 to 80 metres. The man, Swiss and from the region, was found dead at about 50 metres, early in the afternoon. An investigation into the cause of death has been opened.
Accidents in Nyon, Orbe and Chalais
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A motorcyclist was seriously injured but his life is not in danger following an accident late Sunday near Aigle. Friday 5 August a 38-year-old man lost his life in similar circumstances, also near Aigle.
The accident Sunday occurred at 17:30 on the Aigle to Mosses road, when the motorcyclist, a man in his 40s, attempted to pass a line of cars near the Vuargney gallery (partly covered section). He slammed into an oncoming car.
The earlier accident occurred on the cantonal road near Aigle and the motorcyclist was critically injured when he tried to pass a line of cars and hit a car as it pulled out to overtake others. He later died in hospital.
Football and skiing cause greatest number of sports injuries, Swiss safety statistics show
Source: BPU 2011 (click on image to view larger)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The greatest number of injuries to children around the home in Switzerland are due to falling from heights, while by age 26 falling on stairs becomes more of a problem.
By age 45 we become wiser about avoiding falls in general, until age 65 when we suddenly fall more often at level ground and once again from heights. But we remain far more careful about stairs in our old age.
The details of how and when we are likely to injure ourselves in accidents are part of the lastest Swiss safety statistics, published Wednesday 3 August by BPU, the Swiss Safety Council.
Accidents cost the country CHF55 million in 2008
The new figures, culled from 2008 statistics, underscore the often-ignored fact that accidents are a major and costly public health problem. Accidents caused more than 61,000 deaths in 2008, the most recent year for statistics and the one covered by the report.
Disease, by comparison, caused some 57,000 deaths.
The figures hold true for every age group: accidents at all ages take more lives than disease.
The total economic burden of all accidents in 2008 was CHF54.8 million, with home and leisure accidents accounting for more than half, CHF30 million. Road accidents cost more than the sports or home/leisure accidents when tangible costs alone are considered, but the longer-term cost of home and leisure accidents is more than double the figure for either road or sports accidents.
The statistics also show that for the three categories of road, sports and home/leisure accidents, the greatest number of people who are disabled or severely injured have had accidents at home, some 29,000. The figures for people disabled or severely injured by road accidents and sports are about the same: some 12,000 people in 2008 for each group.
The highest number of deaths, 1,538, was due to home accidents, followed by road accidents, 329, and sports accidents, 129.
Road accidents, however, carry the greatest risk of disability, severe injury or death, based on the rates in 2008. BPU registered 91,000 road accidents, 310,000 sports accidents and 600,000 home and leisure accidents.
Soccer has the highest per-hour-of-sport incidence of injuries
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 57-year-old Fribourg man who lived in Le Broye died during the night at the Chuv hospitals in Lausanne, following a road accident Thursday afternoon 30 June at 17:30 near Moudon. The man was on a scooter on the Bern road between Moudon and Lucens when a French trailer-truck passed him, heading in the direction of Lucens. The man lost his balance when the trailer was level with him and he fall against the trailer, which was to his left, then hit the ground.
He was critically injured in the fall. The truck, driven by a French woman, stopped immediately. The man was attended to by emergency teams then airlifted by Rega to the hospital in Lausanne.
Photo, Roadcross, foundation for road accident victims
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Drive 200kph on the autoroute or 100kph in town and you might find you’re facing some stiff penalties, if a new proposal to change the Swiss constitution passes. The initiative, “protection against super-speeders”, was handed to the Swiss federal chancellery Wednesday 15 June with more than 106,000 signatures, enough to put it to the vote
The popular initiative was started by Roadcross, a Swiss foundation for road victims. It argues that stricter measures are necessary to reduce deaths and injuries caused by drivers who willfully use roads at excessively high speeds. The group takes pains to point out that the measure does not concern the occasional speeder who is over the limit.
“Every week, an accident is caused by someone driving at excessive speeds. Several times a month, people are critically injured or killed by these speeders,” the group notes in a position paper. “Every year in Switzerland 1,109 persons are critically injured and 147 are killed in accidents evidently caused by excessively high speeds (2008 figures).”
Excessive speeds are not caused by a moment of inattention to the speed limit. The popular initiative lays it out clearly:
- going over the allowed limit by at least 40kph in areas where the limit is 30
- over the limit allowed by at least 50kph in towns
- over the limit by at least 60kph on highways outside towns
- at least 80kph over the limit on autoroutes.
The change to the law would require tougher penalties in the case of death or serious injuries caused by an accident due to high speeds. The super-speeder’s car would be confiscated and given to the state (proceeds to victims of road accidents) and the driver’s license would be taken away fro at least two years, for a first conviction and for life in a second conviction. In the case of doubt, a license would be lifted as a preventive measure until the courts decide if excessive speed was involved.
Increase due almost entirely to pedestrians outside crosswalks
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The number of deaths on roads in Switzerland fell by 4 percent in 2010 but the number of pedestrian deaths was up by 27 percent, new figures from the Swiss Safety Council (bfu/bpa) show. There was little change in the number of people killed while using a crosswalk, but pedestrians killed elsewhere rose from 39 to 56.
Overall number of accidents continues to fall
Alcohol and speed factors remain high
Photo, Mr Kio on flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/igievil/
A total of 361 people died on Swiss roads in 2010. Speed is estimated to have played a role in about one-third of fatal accidents and alcohol in about one-fifth.
Another 4,508 people were seriously injured in road accidents in Switzerland in 2010. Speed may have been a factor in about one-quarter of these and alcohol in about one in seven accidents.
The number of accidents in 2010 was more than 500 lower than in 2005, with the number falling every year. The safety council attributes the decline to preventive efforts and more policing, but it says there are still far too many deaths and injuries.
Speed, crossing outside crosswalks a deadly combination
Most pedestrians are killed during busy traffic periods such as rush hour, the new annual safety council report indicates.
“Most pedestrian accidents occur while people are crossing the road, in towns, and during rush hour. A systematic reduction in speed would help reduce the number of accidents and reduce the seriousness of injuries caused by them.” Bfu/bpa notes that the percentage of deaths when cars are going 30kph is 10 percent, but this climbs to 70 percent when cars are going 50kph.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Heavy rain Saturday afternoon was behind three serious accidents that sent a total of 9 people to area hospitals, all but two with serious injuries. The accidents were all the result of drivers losing control of their cars, with one in Aigle, another on the A9 near Montreux and the other on the A9 near Yverdon. In each case the drivers’ cars spun on the wet roads. The two autoroute accidents caused major traffic jams.
In other road accidents, Vaud police say a French woman in her early 30s who works in Morges turned herself in after they issued an appeal to the hit and run driver who caused an accident Thursday 14 October on the A1 between Morges and Ecublens. 20 Minutes shows the video of the accident.
Preventing deaths and injuries on the roads
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Motorcyclists being stopped by the police are a sight more frequent than usual this week in Geneva, with the city’s police running a safety campaign 17-21 May, called “PréDiRe Motocyclistes”.
It is part of the larger BPU (Swiss Safety Council) national preventive campaign to cut the number of bikers’ deaths and injuries from accidents. Geneva police point out that the risk of very serious injury is 20 times higher for motorcyclists than for people traveling in cars. And while statistics are showing a drop in the number of injuries and deaths from road accidents overall, the figures have not improved for motorcycle accidents.
Motorcyclists in Geneva were involved in 783 accidents in 2009: 13.9 percent of the total number of accidents in the canton during the year. They were 27.3 percent of the fatalities, however, six of the 22 deaths from road accidents.
Human error is responsible for most motorcycle accidents, so the police campaign focuses on raising bikers’ awareness of preventive measures they can take, the risks of speed, and how to help other drivers on the road behave more responsibly towards motorcycles.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Federal Road Office (Fedro) is proposing a series of steps to cut down the number of accidents each year. More than 20,000 accidents on Swiss roads cause almost 400 deaths every year and many more serious injuries.
Government’s safer roads proposals consultation ends in March
The package of proposals, called Via Sicura , is winding its way through the mandatory Swiss political consultation process. The 60-odd proposals include improving road infrastructure, changing laws and toughening procedures. Among measures being considered:
Geneva / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two people died Sunday 1 November on Geneva roads, and details have not yet been officially released for a separate accident, where another person reportedly died. The police have not yet been able to identify the victims in the first accident, which took place at 04:30 on the Route des Jeunes, as the driver left the A1 autoroute, coming from Perly in the direction of Geneva.
Lake Geneva area, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – An 18-year-old died late Saturday night when the car in which he was a passenger went off the road between Assens and Echallens in Vaud and turned over several times, ejecting him. The cause of the accident appears to have been excessive speed. Three other young people in the car suffered slight injuries. In two other accidents, several people were injured. Saturday early afternoon a car driven by an 87-year old, going from Veytaux to Vevey in Vaud, left its lane and hit another car.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Snow has been bucketing down throughout much of Switzerland, with snow falling steadily throughout the Alps Sunday and picking up again early Monday morning. Canton Bern had 22 accidents between 17:00 and 05:00, reports 20 Minutes (Fre), with one woman losing her life in Thunstetten and three other people injured in other accidents.
